At its regular meeting on Monday, the Moundridge USD 423 Board of Education approved a one-time staff retention bonus following executive session discussions about employer-employee negotiations.
The board approved bonuses of $1,000 for full-time employees and $500 for part-time employees and Rule 10 coaches. The motion passed unanimously among the six members present at the time of the vote.
One of the highlights of the meeting was recognition of Kendall Vogts and the Moundridge High School Forensics team for their accomplishments during the 2025-26 school year.
For transparency’s sake, it should be noted that Vogts is the wife of Plains Pilot publisher Todd R. Vogts, and she is a co-owner of the publication.
In terms of meeting business, the board also approved several notable expenditures and operational items:
- Purchase of Chromebooks from Vivacity Tech for $35,266.
- Fire system upgrades at Moundridge Elementary School by Pye-Barker Fire & Safety for $32,918.60.
- Approval of a five-year ESSDACK interagency agreement.
- Approval of out-of-state travel for the MHS Lady Cats basketball team to a basketball camp in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in June, and for the cross country team to attend the Nike Cross Regionals in South Dakota later in 2026.
The board also handled several activity account changes, including closing the Class of 2026, Journalism, and Cultural Connections accounts at the end of the school year. The board also approved establishing a new Class of 2030 activity account, slated to take effect July 1.
Personnel actions included accepting the resignation of school nurse Lynn Nightingale and approving the hiring of Morgan Kaufman as an additional middle school volleyball coach and Reid Graber for summer maintenance work.
A substantial portion of the evening was spent in executive sessions discussing personnel matters and employer-employee negotiations, per the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
Those closed-door discussions lasted roughly an hour in total before the board returned to open session and approved the retention bonuses.
The meeting adjourned at 9:26 p.m. A special meeting was scheduled for Friday, and the next regular board meeting will be June 8, 2026.
